Economic Development
Economic development is critical for any city to thrive. We need to "democratize" our economic development so that it benefits everyone.
- Reduce city and school taxes for everyone who lives in Harrisburg
- Evaluate all tax programs and eliminate special tax abatement programs that work only for a few of the residents and businesses
- Reduce the city’s debt
- Tax base/revenue sharing across the metropolitan region
- Transfer city-owned museums to private ownership and sell all artifacts
- Transfer the incinerator to private ownership as soon as competitive bidding is possible
- An up-to-date comprehensive plan, built on broad community participation
- Neighborhood responsibility for implementation of the comprehensive plan
- Revision of the zoning code – simple, understandable and designed to serve a vibrant, multi-use city
- Auction city-owned land parcels to people who will live or run a community-based business on them
- Democratize economic opportunity through workforce development/job training, entrepreneurial education, micro-loans, and business counseling
- Work with local architects to provide plans for affordable housing that can be built for our community (We did it for New Orleans; we can do it here.)
- Eliminate unnecessary “red-tape” that discourages contractors who wish to work in the City
- Increase the economic diversity of city residents
- Encourage major city employers to provide incentives for their employees to live where they work
I believe our economic development should be neighborhood focused. Please read more about it on Harrisburg's mayor candidate platforms page.
